Angelina Jolie is to star in the upcoming drama, Couture, a drama which has more than a passing resemblance to her own life.
Couture, sees Jolie play a director who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. In the film, Jolie's character, Maxine has been given the task of creating an opening for a prestigious runaway show during Paris Fashion Week.
While meeting with models and checking out the glamourous shots on set, Maxine receives the devastating news regarding her breast cancer diagnosis.
"You spend life preparing for all these things to happen," Maxine says in the trailer alongside a montage of doctor appointments efforts to complete her fashion show short film. "And then the thing you never saw coming, there it is".
Later in the trailer, Jolie can be heard asking the doctor if there is any chance she could die, who which they reply: "Everybody's going to die".
Maxine's struggles also mirror that of Jolie's, when the actress underwent an elective double mastectomy in May 2013, after finding out from doctors that she was a BRCA1 carrier, significantly increasing her risk of breast cancer.
She initially underwent genetic testing after her mother, Marcheline Bertrand passed away from ovarian and breast cancer in 2007 aged 56, following an eight year battle.
"I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy,” Jolie wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece called 'My Medical Choice' at the time. “But it it is one I am very happy that I made. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer".
Angelina Jolie spoke candidly about her surgery in an interview with TIME France last December, where she said that her decision to be open about her struggles were based on solidarity, education and a belief that woman deserve easily accessed information about their health.
“I share these scars with many women I love,” she told TIME France at the time. “I’m always moved when I see other women share theirs. I wanted to join them, knowing that TIME France would share information on breast health, prevention and knowledge about breast cancer".
The actress also appeared on the magazine's cover, where she visibly displayed her scars for the first time. Check this out and more here.
